Lentigen Signs Brain Cancer Agreement With University

Lentigen and Case Western Reserve University will collaborate to develop a stem-cell therapy for glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.

Under the agreement, Case Western will lead the first in vivo clinical trial, and Lentigen will be responsible for further clinical development and commercialization.

The new therapy will be based on MGMT, a gene that has been shown to repair damaged DNA. A lentiviral vector will be used to deliver the gene specifically to bone marrow stem cells that have been damaged by drugs commonly used to treat cancer, Lentigen said.

A Phase I trial, which will be held at Case Western later this year, will evaluate the potential of this lentiviral vector-MGMT technology to enhance treatments for glioblastoma by repairing and preventing this damage to bone-marrow stem cells.